Cherries

Cherries

The cherry is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). The sour cherry Prunus cerasus is thought to have originated as a natural hybrid between Prunus avium and Prunus fruticosa in the Caucasus
Cherries have a very short growing season and can grow in most temperate latitudes. The peak season for cherries in southern Europe and North America is June

The English word cherry, French cerise and Spanish cereza come from the classical Greek (κέρασος) through the Latin cerasum

As well as a delicious snack, dried sour cherries are used in cooking including soups and pork dishes, cakes, tarts, and pies and also in liquers and drinks

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Cranberries

Cranberries are a berry fruit from low, creeping shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium.

The bushes with slender, wiry stems and small evergreen leaves grow up to 2 metres long and 5 to 20 centimetres high.

The name cranberry derives from “craneberry”, first named by early European settlers in America who felt the expanding flower, stem, calyx, and petals resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane.

Dried cranberries are made by partially dehydrating fresh cranberries, a process similar to making grapes into raisins. They are popular in trail mix, salads, and breads, with cereals or eaten on their own.

Prunes

A prune is the dried fruit of the Prunus domestica or European Plum. In the USA it is increasingly known as the dried plum.
Plums may be one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundant cultivars are only found around human settlements: Prunus domestica has been traced to East European and Caucasian mountains. Plum remains have been found in Neolithicage archaeological sites along with olives, grapes and figs

Dates

Dates are the fruit of the Phoenix dactylifera (date palm) which can grow to 20-25 metres high.

Dates have been cultivated for thousands of years – a staple of the Middle East and the Indus Valley (now Pakistan). They are believed to have originated in Iraq as early as 4000 BCE, although archaeological evidence shows date cultivation in eastern Arabia in 6000 BCE. The Ancient Egyptians ate the fruit and made date wine. There is also evidence of date cultivation in Mehrgarh a Neolithic civilization in western Pakistan, around 7000 BCE.

The fruit’s English name comes from the Greek word for “finger,” dáktulos, because of the fruit’s elongated shape